Skip to Main Content

Podcasting Resources

Getting Started – Tutorials and resources

Tools for podcasting, by Jill Olmsted – This open access textbook is written by Jill Olmsted, a professor of Journalism at the American University School of Communication in Washington, and has ten chapters that cover both technical and creative aspects of podcasting.

Podcasting and audio storytelling (Library Guide, UMichigan) – Includes information on creating accessible audio files, selecting software, links to trainings and blogs, and more.

Tutorial: Audacity, Berkeley Advanced Media Institute – Includes directions for recording, importing, editing, and exporting sound files as a finished mp3.

Audacity Manual: Tutorials – Tutorials that provide step-by-step instructions for performing common tasks in Audacity.

Recording and editing

Downloading software

Step 1: Download Audacity or other sound editing software

Step 2: Download the LAME mp3 Encoder

  • The LAME mp3 Encoder exports files from Audacity as an mp3 file. (Download LAME)

Recording audio with your smartphone

Recording Audio with an iPhone:

Recording Audio with an Android:

Can I include audio recordings created by others in my work? – Understanding Usage Rights

Unless you have permission from a works' copyright owner or you are the work's creator, we recommend that you include works that are in the public domain or under Creative Commons licenses.

What are Creative Commons Licenses?

Creative Commons video transcript [PDF]

Source: University of Guelph Library. [U of G Library]. (2018, September 21). What are Creative Commons Licenses [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/srVPLrmlBJY (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Four Creative Commons license elements

See below for license types you may encounter along with details regarding the four Creative Commons licensing terms you will encounter (i.e. attribution, no derivatives, share alike and non-commercial).

"Creative Commons Licenses Explained" by MaconEastLibraryProject is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

What is the public domain?

 quotesThe term “public domain” refers to creative materials that are not protected by intellectual property laws such as copyright, trademark, or patent laws. The public owns these works, not an individual author or artist. 

How do works fall into the public domain?

    • Copyright typically expires 70 years after the death of its author
    • The copyright owner failed to follow copyright renewal rules
    • It was placed in the public domain deliberately by the copyright owner (also called ”dedication”)
    • Copyright law does not protect this type of work. quotes

Stim, R. (n.d.). Welcome to the Public Domain. Retrieved from https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/public-domain/welcome/ (CC BY-NC 3.0)

Public domain video transcript [PDF]

Source: U.S. Copyright Office. [U.S. Copyright Office]. (2019, December 18). What is Public Domain? [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/PMp_-OX15Jc

Finding Creative Commons and public domain audio

Public domain and Creative Commons audio files can be downloaded from the websites below. It is still important to provide attribution for the recording to acknowledge the artist's work. Visit the Citing Resources page on this guide for audio citation examples.